The comic book illustrates a world where everything that exists in the world is owned by someone, or something. The intellectual property laws of today have created a climate where this isn't necessarily far from true. Every object is attached to some mind... A mind who conceived of it's need, it's design, and it's purpose. That mind introduced the object to the world and that connection can never be separated.
When I use the word object, it's a bit misleading. The comic shows that even the music we listen to and the smells as we walk down the street all have a source. Are we supposed to give credit to that source when we incorporate it into our own work?
Two summers ago, I worked as a customer-service representative, which led me to apply for copyright registration on a new brand and logo for the company. As a team, we conceived the name of a new product line, by combining two different words. By combining two words into one, we were eligible to have that term copyrighted, so that no one could print it, as well. Having a copyright on our brand's name has allowed us to emerge as synonymous with the new type of product. In that way, by owning a name, we have de facto become owners of a new method of craft. Although, a copyright registration on a brand name is the most black and white of copyright issues, there were many steps made necessary to carry out in order to prove our legitimacy and usage of the term. Furthermore, once we obtained the copyright, it had widespread implications.
In another realm, come fair use laws on music for political purposes, that I found to be a particularly contemporary and relevant issue. The graphic novel refers to when Ross Perot lost the presidential race and Patsy Cline's "Crazy" played in the background of his speech that aired on national televisions. In an instant, Cline becomes associated with Perot, and viewers may misconstrue that alignment as Cline's endorsement of Perot. This is a conflict that has followed Donald Trump, among other Republican candidates, on the campaign trail. Famously, Springsteen objected to the use of, "Born in the USA" as a campaign track. While it was within legal bounds to use Springsteen's track, he was criticized for his lack of consultation with the musician. But, to what extent does an artist such as Springsteen have ownership on a particular song?
Exercise 1
Surrealist Photoshop Project
Black and white photograph of Frida Kahlo selected
Frida is colorized using "select new adjustment layer" and masking
The deer is added to the composition (a painting by Frida) and shadows are added to each figure.
Doorway and its composition are added
Background components are added.
Sky, forrest, mountains, grasslands, shrubs, & path are all separate components.
Path is eliminated.
Texture is added.
Shadows are refined.
Composition undergoes dodge & burn tools: shawl, bathtub, owl, kiwi, cat, & owl.
Brightness, saturation, and light are manipulated.
Shadow added under owl & kiwi.
Abstract painting is added to doorway with transparency low.
Dodge is used on painting in mid-tones.
Soften Frida shadow
Fix deer shadow
Teddy Roosevelt Island
Cinema-graph
Lev Manovich on After Effects
Manovich is a Digital Arts historian. His article, "After Effects or the Velvet Revolution" details the recent history of digital arts. Manovich includes Digital Arts History as part of the narrative of computer science. Yet, those interested in the evolution of the computer typically discount the rise of new media as contributing to the multifaceted experience consumers have today.
New media, he acknowledges, can be seen as a velvet revolution of sorts. The Velvet Revolution has traditionally referred to the peaceful transition from the former Czech, Soviet satellite, to sovereign democracy. In Manovich's view, this was the experience of media throughout the 1990's to today. These events in history can be characterized as peaceful transformations.
What is most notable about the Velvet Revolution of New Media, he says, is the, "new hybrid visual language of moving images in general." Suddenly, the world was confronted with a new way to communicate, to learn, to read, and interact. While, the World Wide Web has rightfully earned its place as a cultural influencer, New Media has gone under the radar. Manovich refers to music videos, typography, layered images, and the like as exposing individuals to a new way of seeing.
Questions:
1. What can you imagine, will be the New Media of the future?
2. Can you remember a New Media innovation in your lifetime? What was like before and after that innovation?
3. Do you feel that New Media history is underrepresented, as Manovich suggests?
Kinetic Typography Video
The kinetic typography project was the most challenging of the semester. I chose to use a speech, rather than a video. In the midst of the 2016 Presidential Election, when I started this video, I was sure that it would be emblematic of her victory by the time I presented it to the class. However, as we now know, this was not the case. Still, the video shows Hillary's long commitment to human rights from her days of First Lady to running for office herself. The first video is from the 90's while the second video is from a campaign speech this past summer.
Augmented Reality
Lev Manovich discusses augmented reality in, "The Poetics of Augmented Space." Manovich chooses to regard augmented reality as a cultural and aesthetic practice, rather than a technology that we more commonly associate it with. The simple dictionary definition of, "augmentation" means a process of becoming greater in size. In Manovich's context, augmentation refers to layers dimensions onto the pre-existing dimensions of reality we have always experienced. The beginning of augmentation did not begin with the AR technology we see in Aurasma. Instead, visual art and advertisements have long created a more dimensional world around us. From the flashing lights on storefronts to the cell phones we hold in our hands, technology has become integrated into our physical world.
I am drawn to Manovich's references to way augmented reality enhances our cultural and historical understanding. As someone who studies anthropology, I agree with Manovich that augmented reality is not a static technology isolated to the modern day, but has been a fluid process coinciding with culture over the past century. Manovich discusses the way culture (AR) has influenced culture, by describing the use of AR in the Jewish Museum of Berlin. The museum projected lines that connected the various homes that Jews had lived in pre-WWII. In the visual representation, "the past literally cuts into the present." AR has been used to elevate our understandings of the space we find ourselves in.
The magazine article on the future of AR in the context of cultural sites neatly links to the Jewish Museum. AR has been suggested as a way to improve site-goers experience with the most treasured objects, architecture, and art of human culture. AR is a non-invasive way to provide further information and context. I think that AR will greatly benefit global cultural appreciation.
Augmented Reality Project
I chose to use the technology of augmented reality to reveal the hidden price disparities between men and women's products. The Pink Tax refers to the steeper price of "women's" products in comparison to products of equality quality and design that are marketed towards men. I have seen the Pink Tax in various news articles, but I have never considered how the tax plays out in my routine shopping trips. I chose to go to CVS, because personal hygiene products are the biggest culprits of the Pink Tax, and investigate these price differences myself. While the unit price was typically they same, I saw mass differences in the unit price for products between men and women. While a female deodorant may appear to cost the same as men's, the female deodorant has far less ounces inside the product.
I took photos of how they appeared on the shelves, to mimic the way a female could use the augmented reality technology in her everyday shopping. Imagine when choosing the price of razors, a woman was told that these "female" razors were $2 more than the male's. Not only could this affect the shopper's choices, but it is a comment on the ridiculous reality that we make women pay more for the same things.
I created for different GIF's to accompany the most concerning products. The GIF's had a similar color scheme and connected to the product itself. For instance, the cucumber in the deodorant GIF is attached to the cucumber on the product when you view it through the Aurasma app. I think having the dollar make an appearance in each GIF would have enhanced the set.
Here is a video showing what it's like shopping in CVS with the Aurasma app.
Tales From the Public Domain: Bound by Law?
The comic book illustrates a world where everything that exists in the world is owned by someone, or something. The intellectual property laws of today have created a climate where this isn't necessarily far from true. Every object is attached to some mind... A mind who conceived of it's need, it's design, and it's purpose. That mind introduced the object to the world and that connection can never be separated.When I use the word object, it's a bit misleading. The comic shows that even the music we listen to and the smells as we walk down the street all have a source. Are we supposed to give credit to that source when we incorporate it into our own work?
Two summers ago, I worked as a customer-service representative, which led me to apply for copyright registration on a new brand and logo for the company. As a team, we conceived the name of a new product line, by combining two different words. By combining two words into one, we were eligible to have that term copyrighted, so that no one could print it, as well. Having a copyright on our brand's name has allowed us to emerge as synonymous with the new type of product. In that way, by owning a name, we have de facto become owners of a new method of craft. Although, a copyright registration on a brand name is the most black and white of copyright issues, there were many steps made necessary to carry out in order to prove our legitimacy and usage of the term. Furthermore, once we obtained the copyright, it had widespread implications.
In another realm, come fair use laws on music for political purposes, that I found to be a particularly contemporary and relevant issue. The graphic novel refers to when Ross Perot lost the presidential race and Patsy Cline's "Crazy" played in the background of his speech that aired on national televisions. In an instant, Cline becomes associated with Perot, and viewers may misconstrue that alignment as Cline's endorsement of Perot. This is a conflict that has followed Donald Trump, among other Republican candidates, on the campaign trail. Famously, Springsteen objected to the use of, "Born in the USA" as a campaign track. While it was within legal bounds to use Springsteen's track, he was criticized for his lack of consultation with the musician. But, to what extent does an artist such as Springsteen have ownership on a particular song?
Surrealist Photoshop Project
Black and white photograph of Frida Kahlo selected
Frida is colorized using "select new adjustment layer" and maskingThe deer is added to the composition (a painting by Frida) and shadows are added to each figure.
Doorway and its composition are added
Background components are added.
Sky, forrest, mountains, grasslands, shrubs, & path are all separate components.
Path is eliminated.
Texture is added.
Shadows are refined.
Composition undergoes dodge & burn tools: shawl, bathtub, owl, kiwi, cat, & owl.
Brightness, saturation, and light are manipulated.
Shadow added under owl & kiwi.
Abstract painting is added to doorway with transparency low.
Dodge is used on painting in mid-tones.
Soften Frida shadow
Fix deer shadow
Teddy Roosevelt Island
Cinema-graph
Lev Manovich on After Effects
Manovich is a Digital Arts historian. His article, "After Effects or the Velvet Revolution" details the recent history of digital arts. Manovich includes Digital Arts History as part of the narrative of computer science. Yet, those interested in the evolution of the computer typically discount the rise of new media as contributing to the multifaceted experience consumers have today.
New media, he acknowledges, can be seen as a velvet revolution of sorts. The Velvet Revolution has traditionally referred to the peaceful transition from the former Czech, Soviet satellite, to sovereign democracy. In Manovich's view, this was the experience of media throughout the 1990's to today. These events in history can be characterized as peaceful transformations.
What is most notable about the Velvet Revolution of New Media, he says, is the, "new hybrid visual language of moving images in general." Suddenly, the world was confronted with a new way to communicate, to learn, to read, and interact. While, the World Wide Web has rightfully earned its place as a cultural influencer, New Media has gone under the radar. Manovich refers to music videos, typography, layered images, and the like as exposing individuals to a new way of seeing.
Questions:
1. What can you imagine, will be the New Media of the future?
2. Can you remember a New Media innovation in your lifetime? What was like before and after that innovation?
3. Do you feel that New Media history is underrepresented, as Manovich suggests?
Kinetic Typography Video
The kinetic typography project was the most challenging of the semester. I chose to use a speech, rather than a video. In the midst of the 2016 Presidential Election, when I started this video, I was sure that it would be emblematic of her victory by the time I presented it to the class. However, as we now know, this was not the case. Still, the video shows Hillary's long commitment to human rights from her days of First Lady to running for office herself. The first video is from the 90's while the second video is from a campaign speech this past summer.The video can be found at this link.
Augmented Reality
Lev Manovich discusses augmented reality in, "The Poetics of Augmented Space." Manovich chooses to regard augmented reality as a cultural and aesthetic practice, rather than a technology that we more commonly associate it with. The simple dictionary definition of, "augmentation" means a process of becoming greater in size. In Manovich's context, augmentation refers to layers dimensions onto the pre-existing dimensions of reality we have always experienced. The beginning of augmentation did not begin with the AR technology we see in Aurasma. Instead, visual art and advertisements have long created a more dimensional world around us. From the flashing lights on storefronts to the cell phones we hold in our hands, technology has become integrated into our physical world.
I am drawn to Manovich's references to way augmented reality enhances our cultural and historical understanding. As someone who studies anthropology, I agree with Manovich that augmented reality is not a static technology isolated to the modern day, but has been a fluid process coinciding with culture over the past century. Manovich discusses the way culture (AR) has influenced culture, by describing the use of AR in the Jewish Museum of Berlin. The museum projected lines that connected the various homes that Jews had lived in pre-WWII. In the visual representation, "the past literally cuts into the present." AR has been used to elevate our understandings of the space we find ourselves in.
The magazine article on the future of AR in the context of cultural sites neatly links to the Jewish Museum. AR has been suggested as a way to improve site-goers experience with the most treasured objects, architecture, and art of human culture. AR is a non-invasive way to provide further information and context. I think that AR will greatly benefit global cultural appreciation.
Augmented Reality Project
I chose to use the technology of augmented reality to reveal the hidden price disparities between men and women's products. The Pink Tax refers to the steeper price of "women's" products in comparison to products of equality quality and design that are marketed towards men. I have seen the Pink Tax in various news articles, but I have never considered how the tax plays out in my routine shopping trips. I chose to go to CVS, because personal hygiene products are the biggest culprits of the Pink Tax, and investigate these price differences myself. While the unit price was typically they same, I saw mass differences in the unit price for products between men and women. While a female deodorant may appear to cost the same as men's, the female deodorant has far less ounces inside the product.
I took photos of how they appeared on the shelves, to mimic the way a female could use the augmented reality technology in her everyday shopping. Imagine when choosing the price of razors, a woman was told that these "female" razors were $2 more than the male's. Not only could this affect the shopper's choices, but it is a comment on the ridiculous reality that we make women pay more for the same things.
I created for different GIF's to accompany the most concerning products. The GIF's had a similar color scheme and connected to the product itself. For instance, the cucumber in the deodorant GIF is attached to the cucumber on the product when you view it through the Aurasma app. I think having the dollar make an appearance in each GIF would have enhanced the set.
Here is a video showing what it's like shopping in CVS with the Aurasma app.